– The words that are used in The Yellow Wallpaper are all part of the meaning. The words paint a picture for readers to understand what is happening without having to invent the details themselves. The language is very metaphorical, always using comparisons or metaphors, similes or other ways of comparing or explaining rather than stating a fact. The protagonist’s limited knowledge is also seen in the language, without words to express some concepts she uses others instead. The use of symbolism and allusion play a role in The Yellow Wallpaper as well;
– The syntax of The Yellow Wallpaper allows the readers to understand what is happening through Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s writing style and structure of The Yellow Wallpaper . The syntax is very short and concise, the story only spans twenty four hours so there isn’t a lot of time for detail and Charlotte Perkins Gilman doesn’t waste any words on things that don’t matter; she gets straight to the point. The syntax also allows us as readers to understand the protagonist’s mind, we know she is going crazy through her thoughts and actions; we can see The Yellow Wallpaper ‘s syntax showing this. The writing style and structure also show the reader that The Yellow Wallpaper is a frame narrative with the doctor as a narrator and not with Charlotte Perkins Gilman herself.
The language of The Yellow Wallpaper paints a picture for readers of what is happening throughout the story from the descriptions to how they are phrased. The words being used paint a clear picture without having to actually say anything specific about what is happening which allows our minds to fill in the details. In The Yellow Wallpaper, Charlotte Perkins Gilman uses very vivid imagery so readers have no trouble picturing what she wants us to see. The language of The Yellow Wallpaper is also very metaphorical, always using comparisons or metaphors, similes or other ways of comparing rather than stating a fact.
The protagonist’s limited knowledge comes out in the language used as well, when she doesn’t know words for certain things she uses others to describe them instead which shows her mind deteriorating like this too. The use of symbolism and allusion plays an important role in The Yellow Wallpaper, it can be seen throughout the story; Charlotte Perkins Gilman leaves clues that make you think about what they could mean while reading The Yellow Wallpaper.
The writing style and structure also show readers some important details like how nobody but John has entered this room before, even though he is only there because his wife is screaming, showing that The Yellow Wallpaper is a frame narrative with John as the narrator. The syntax of The Yellow Wallpaper allows readers to understand what is happening through Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s writing style and structure of The Yellow Wallpaper. The story mainly spans twenty four hours so there isn’t time for detail or wasting words on things that don’t matter; Charlotte Perkins Gilman gets straight to the point.
The syntax also shows us The Yellow Wallpaper has a limited third person point of view where the reader only hears about one character’s thoughts which are those of the protagonist, who is also slowly going insane. The use of active verbs instead of past tense verbs makes it sound like The Yellow Wallpaper takes place now, adding to the suspense and horror readers feel when reading The Yellow Wallpaper. The syntax allows us to see The Yellow Wallpaper is a frame narrative with John as a narrator.
The language in The Yellow Wallpaper paints a picture for readers, Charlotte Perkins Gilman uses very vivid imagery so that we have no trouble picturing what she wants us to see. The language is also very metaphorical, always using comparisons or metaphors, similes or other ways of comparing rather than stating a fact. The protagonist’s limited knowledge comes out in the language used, when she doesn’t know words for certain things she uses others to describe them instead which shows her mind deteriorating like this too.
The Yellow Wallpaper’s syntax is very important in understanding the effect it has on readers. The short sentences, the disjointed thoughts, and the jaggedy-ness of The Yellow Wallpaper all work together to paint a picture that is unsettling and makes the story even more creepy than it would be if written any other way. The long, flowing sentences of The Yellow Wallpaper are meant to show us how Jane’s mind is deteriorating; her thoughts are no longer fluid but instead broken apart by restlessness.
The choppy writing mimics how Jane feels when she can’t sleep at night because she hears things in the walls or behind the pattern. We get glimpses into her troubled mind through this rambling style of writing which presents The Yellow Wallpaper’s story in a way that makes the reader feel uneasy and uncomfortable from the start. The Yellow Wallpaper’s various syntactical choices contribute greatly to its effect on the reader.
The Yellow Wallpaper’s run-on sentences show urgency and speed just like Jane’s thoughts do when she became restless at night, but they also reveal her mind’s decline. The quick succession of words without much punctuation slows down what is happening, which can be used as a technique for unsettling a reader. The Yellow Wallpaper starts out with normal sentences: “Anyway John does not know how much I know” (Gilman 2).
The text treats the reader to a first-person narrative by a woman who believes she is going mad. The narrator’s husband has rented her a room with yellow wallpaper as treatment for her depression and so that she can rest after giving birth. The woman becomes obsessed with the wallpaper and begins to believe that there are women trapped behind it trying to get out. The negative language used throughout The Yellow Wallpaper is evidence of the views society had about illness at this time, especially female illness.
The use of personification also demonstrates how Gilman uses objects as actors through which to convey meaning, allowing her to write in a way that many feminist critics suggest “sidesteps the limits of language” (Pettit and Campbell xxxiv). The Yellow Wallpaper is significant because it is an early example of literature written by a woman about her own experience. The text, therefore, reflects Gilman’s view on what it meant to be female at the time and demonstrates how she aimed to challenge this through her work (Jones).
